agnostic

a. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.

b. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.

One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.

adjective

Relating to or being an agnostic.

Doubtful or noncommittal: “Though I am agnostic on what terms to use, I have no doubt that human infants come with an enormous ‘acquisitiveness’ for discovering patterns”(William H. Calvin).

Computers Operable or functioning using any operating system or other digital technology. Often used in combination: software that is platform agnostic.

Origin of agnostic

a–1 + Gnostic.

Related Forms:

ag·nos′ti·cal·ly

adverb

Word History: Agnostics do not deny the existence of God—instead, they hold that one cannot know for certain whether or not God exists. The term agnostic was coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact knowledge. He made up the word from the prefix a–, meaning “without, not,” as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic. Gnostic is related to the Greek word gnōsis, “knowledge,” which was used by early Christian writers to mean “higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things”; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as “Gnostics” a group of his fellow intellectuals—“ists,” as he called them—who had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction. Because he was a “man without a rag of a label to cover himself with,” Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.

agnostic

Noun

(plural agnostics)

A person who holds to a form of agnosticism, especially uncertainty of the existence of a deity.

Sentence Examples

The Spectator, which gradually became a prosperous property, was his pulpit, in which unwearyingly he gave expression to his views, particularly on literary, religious and philosophical subjects, in opposition to the agnostic and rationalistic opinions then current in intellectual circles, as popularized by Huxley.

The Party remains agnostic over the exact choice of reference period for calculating working hours.

Edward Jones became an agnostic, & art replaced religion in his life.

Unless he rejects Islam and turns agnostic or atheist, this will serve to expose his real agenda.

She is an agnostic on the question of whether this transformation was ' for good or ill ' (p. 6).

Words near agnostic in the dictionary

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Quote

I'm an agnostic. Sometimes I muse deeply on the forces that are for me invisible. When I am almost close to the idea of God, I feel immediately estranged by the horrors of this world, which he seems to tolerate... Stanislaw Ulam